November 22, 2017

As part of its continued efforts to promote and advocate science, technology and innovation (STI) towards a sustainable Kuwait, The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences launched KFAS Links, a speaker series that brings distinguished experts from various sectors from around the world to inspire, motivate and guide innovation enthusiasts and the Kuwaiti society at large.

The speaker series, which is a platform for exchanging knowledge and expertise, comes as part of the Foundation’s goals to foster capacity building and furthering and enhancing human capital development.

KFAS Director General, Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin stated “KFAS Links will be essential in ensuring that the Foundation continues to foster the human competencies and inspire new innovative ideas and approaches needed to drive a knowledge-based economy. Bringing researchers, scientists, and business experts from all over the world to promote the exchange of know-how, technology transfer and potentially establish new partnerships and collaborations, will be key to advancing research and development, locally and internationally.”

KFAS Links will be a platform that hosts speakers from local, regional and international institutions leading to the exchange of knowledge and expertise, and the building of potential collaborations to further the culture of innovation in Kuwait, as well as maximizing efforts to address global challenges.

One of the objectives of the platform is to act as a catalyst in building bridges between the leaders in the private, public and research/academic sectors in Kuwait to enhance STI initiatives and foster research and development. There is also an emphasis on driving decision and policy makers to utilize STI as tools for steering socioeconomic development.

As a part of KFAS Links, Neil Jones, Senior Affiliate Professor of Strategy at the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD), held a talk on digital disruption on November 21 where he discussed how strategic tools can help companies convert a potential threat into a real opportunity as industries worldwide are transformed by innovation and evolving digital technologies.

Earlier this month, Dr. Omar Yaghi, the Founding Director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute and winner of the 2017 Albert Einstein World Award of Science held a talk on revolutionary applications to harvest fresh water from desert air, powered by sunlight. Dr. Yaghi is also the recipient of the 2017 Kuwait Prize in Fundamental Sciences.